A few days ago I cancelled my DirectTV and purchased a Tivo Premiere with the intention of switching to a bare bones Comcast package (for pricing reasons). I decided to purchase the Digital Economy package and requested a Cable Card install. Digital Economy is essentially basic plus a few additional channels. It does not include on demand or channel guide.

When the installer showed up he was under the impression that I needed at least Digital Starter for the cable card to function. Otherwise, the only way for it to work would be a cable box. He called his technical support and they backed him up. I was not about to pay for the price difference so I sent him home and called Comcast again. I spoke with a few Comcast reps over the course of a few phone calls and some backed up the installer while others said that wasn't true.

I ended up speaking with a very knowledgeable rep and he said that it would not be a problem to have a cable card with digital basic. A different installer came out again today and upon arrival he said the same thing the previous installer said.

I ended up accepting a digital starter package and intend to drop my service to digital basic and hope it works.

Has anyone else run into a similar situation?

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Comcast pricing varies from one town to the NEXT.

The Bottom line is you NEED a CableCard plugged
into your TiVo or NOTHING will work.

A few days ago I cancelled my DirectTV and purchased a Tivo Premiere with the intention of switching to a bare bones Comcast package (for pricing reasons). I decided to purchase the Digital Economy package and requested a Cable Card install. Digital Economy is essentially basic plus a few additional channels. It does not include on demand or channel guide.

When the installer showed up he was under the impression that I needed at least Digital Starter for the cable card to function. Otherwise, the only way for it to work would be a cable box. He called his technical support and they backed him up. I was not about to pay for the price difference so I sent him home and called Comcast again. I spoke with a few Comcast reps over the course of a few phone calls and some backed up the installer while others said that wasn't true.

I ended up speaking with a very knowledgeable rep and he said that it would not be a problem to have a cable card with digital basic. A different installer came out again today and upon arrival he said the same thing the previous installer said.

I ended up accepting a digital starter package and intend to drop my service to digital basic and hope it works.

Yep, the exact same situation except with Limited Cable and without the installer telling me that I couldn't do it. The rep at the service center wouldn't give me or even listen to me when I asked for a CC with Limited, so I asked to sign up for Digital, got the card, walked out, installed it, and promptly canceled the Digital.

While waiting delivery on a new Premiere Elite I picked up a Motorola M card at my local Comcast office. The guy scanned the bar codes on the card pack and gave me a receipt with the S/N shown added to my account. Should I now see this card S/N along with my other boxes when I go to the online activation page? I"m asking b/c it's not there. Does that mean he didn't activate it and calling up to pair it will be a waste of time? Thanks.

While waiting delivery on a new Premiere Elite I picked up a Motorola M card at my local Comcast office. The guy scanned the bar codes on the card pack and gave me a receipt with the S/N shown added to my account. Should I now see this card S/N along with my other boxes when I go to the online activation page? I"m asking b/c it's not there. Does that mean he didn't activate it and calling up to pair it will be a waste of time? Thanks.

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All he did was record the serial number of your card so that when they get it back they make sure they get the same one.

I haven't heard of activating CCs online, so I don't know if that'll work or not; I've always been advised to call the 800 number at the bottom of the receipt

All he did was record the serial number of your card so that when they get it back they make sure they get the same one.

I haven't heard of activating CCs online, so I don't know if that'll work or not; I've always been advised to call the 800 number at the bottom of the receipt

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+1

Call the number. Takes 10-15 minutes if you wait while they ask you to check channels. 5-10 minutes if you have faith it'll work and just tell them thanks after they record the card's info from the gray cablecard screen and they send the "hit".

My CableCARDs show up as "Digital set top box"es. I don't believe they show up until the pairing is complete. Not sure why they didn't implement online pairing/activation of CableCARDs as they did with DTAs, but they didn't.

My CableCARDs show up as "Digital set top box"es. I don't believe they show up until the pairing is complete. Not sure why they didn't implement online pairing/activation of CableCARDs as they did with DTAs, but they didn't.

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Yeah - mine showed up today after activation. Took about ten minutes on phone using the 877-405-2298 number I saw previously in this thread. (There was a different 800 number on the TiVo cable card screen that I didn't use). Expected trouble being a w/e but went very smooth. I don't have any premium channels so that prob helped. The guy did need the S/N, Host ID, Cable Card ID, Unit Address and Data numbers so they must not be able to get all that on line.

My CableCARDs show up as "Digital set top box"es. I don't believe they show up until the pairing is complete. Not sure why they didn't implement online pairing/activation of CableCARDs as they did with DTAs, but they didn't.

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I just activated a CableCard online about a half hour ago. It was easier than activating my modem--I didn't have to chat with a rep to convince them I didn't need their software.